Although I opened an Edmodo account over a year ago at the urging of another teacher at my school, I have never used it. Through my explorations of Edmodo, I saw that there are a number of different features that may be beneficial to use with my students. Edmodo allows me to post assignments as well as allowing students to post their completed assignments. I can also poll students to get their opinion or to assess what they already know about a topic. Additionally, Edmodo allows me to create smaller groups of students to share information with so that I do not have to have different accounts for each section of the courses I teach. If I were to use it with my students, I would start by using it as a means of communication. Professionally I would also use it to connect to the other teachers in my school as well as other music educators.
Google Docs (or Google Drive) is a place to store and share your documents in the cloud. You can create your documents online or upload existing documents from your computer. The biggest benefit to Google Docs is being able to access your files from anywhere with an internet connection. Another huge benefit is being able to share your documents with others. Google Docs allows you to save your files privately, share them with the public, or share them with a specific person or group of people. You can also choose who may edit your shared files, creating a document similar to a wiki.
One way I could use Google Docs right now is to communicate with the parents of the students in this year’s spring musical as to what items are still needed for the concession stand and what props we still need for the show. If the documents are shared to allow the parents to edit them, they could remove things from the list as they are purchased and everyone would be able to see these updates. This is much more efficient than mass emails between the directors and the parents. I could use Google Docs with students for creating and sharing assignments as well as having students complete forms/questionnaires. Also, as students often misplace their thumb drives, Google Docs is a great place for students to back up their work.